110+ pound blue catfish is new Georgia state record

Record blue catfish puts Georgia in the triple digit club

Tim Trone of Havana, FL caught the new Georgia state record blue catfish on Oct. 17. The fish weighed 110 pounds, 6 ounces. Trone caught the blue using cut bream as bait.

The record catch puts Georgia in the triple-digit club for record blue catfish. The previous record weighed 93 pounds. South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia also have triple digit weights for their state record blue catfish.

Trone was fishing on the Chattahoochee River in the Stewart County section when he caught the big fish, which was 58 inches long and sported a 42-inch girth.

Thom Litts, Chief of Fisheries for the Wildlife Resources Division of Georgia’s DNR, said this is the first new state record fish since early spring.

Trone caught the fish during a catfish tournament

“This is our first state record since last April, and I hope it encourages all anglers to get outdoors and Go Fish Georgia!” said Litts.

Catching a record fish is a dream-come-true for most anglers. And Trone did it at the best possible time — during a fishing tournament. Fishing out of Florence Marina during the Chatt Katt Catfishing tournament, Trone’s team, Krooked Kreek, took first place with a 4-fish total weight of 126 pounds. His 110+ pounder also won the Big Fish Award in the competition.

Georgia’s 93-pound previous state record blue was caught in 2017 by Ricky Barrett, also during the month of October.

South Carolina’s state record blue catfish weighed 113.8 pounds and came out of Lake Moultrie. Paula Haney caught that fish in 2017. North Carolina’s state record blue catfish, a 121-pound, 9-ounce fish, was caught by Joey Baird out of Lake Gaston on July 20, 2020. Virginia’s state record blue, a 143-pounder, came out of Kerr Reservoir a/k/a Buggs Island. Nick Anderson of Greenville, N.C. caught the fish on June 18, 2011.